The Delhi High Court judgement granting bail to Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the convicted criminal of rape of an underage girl in Unnao, has shattered the faith of a large number of Indians in the judicial system of India.
Sengar, a BJP MLA of Uttar Pradesh, was convicted for raping a girl on 4 June 2017. It has not been forgotten by people that the ruling party had been solidly standing behind the daredevil criminal. He was not suspended or dismissed from the party until he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
It is a big heart-wrenching story of criminal support to the culprit. This hardened criminal did not stop just at the heinous crime of rape. His conspiracies with the help of his political cohorts destroyed the whole family of the young victim. The father of the victim was sent to jail where he was done to death. The victim’s aunt was murdered in a fake road accident. Her advocate also was done to death in the road accident. As if all this was not enough, several fake cases were launched against some other members of the victim’s family. Three other friends of Sengar, who gang-raped the victim are still at large. All these acts were helplessly watched by common people. Now the High Court verdict has come as a bombshell. People feel frustrated to continuously watch a long series of legal loopholes utilised to shield the powerful criminal of the ruling party. These and scores of other cases provide solid proof of how the slogan of ‘BetiBachao’ is false.
Today every Indian woman feels that she is not safe under the present dispensation. Justice must be done and should be seen as being done, by one and all. It must be done without fear or favour.
Another case of Mohammed Akhlaq also should be examined. More than 15 years ago, an elderly man aged 54, whose one son is serving the nation in the Indian Air Force, was falsely accused of storing beef in his fridge in Dadri in UP. His own neighbours along with other villagers mercilessly hacked him to death and grievously injured his another son. The UP government under the leadership of the so-called “Yogi” Maharaj had sought the permission of the High Court to withdraw the case. The Judge rejected this frivolous request and ordered a day-to-day hearing of the case against about 15 accused. The things have taken such a turn even in the judiciary that people are wondering how the honourable judge has gathered the courage to reject the government’s request. It was quite expected from an “honourable” leader who has the dubious distinction of getting all cases against him withdrawn as soon as he assumed power. Citizens still wonder how the honourable judge allowed the withdrawal of criminal cases of severe nature against the leader. It does not speak well about the moral stature of the big political leader who claims to be a religious person.
All our moral values and democratic principles are at stake. The whole world is condemning us for degradation of governance and erosion of democratic norms. If the conditions do not improve, people will feel compelled to revolt as it has been happening in almost all of our neighbouring countries.